Fame. Stardom. In slang terminology, clout.
Everyone that lives on this Earth has one primary goal, to achieve something amazing that leaves a positive lasting impact on society. However, the goals which one would have had back in the 1990s are drastically different than those found in the 2020s. These changes are all thanks due to the exponential rise of social media.
With that, one platform has stood out from the rest as not only becoming addictive but building an algorithm that allows users to have an ease of virality - that platform being TikTok.
Overview
As you look at the grind and dedication that content creators on a platform like YouTube put into their content, it may seem impossible to become a successful 'TikToker' in 2022.
However, after reading this blog, that worry should rapidly subside as there are three main "ingredients" that go into going viral post after post on TikTok.
Quality of Content
The difference between someone who becomes a success on TikTok and a failure on TikTok is the effort put into the content. Similar to how you expect content that shows time and effort was put into the creation, the viewer who will watch your content expects the same.
An example can be found in the commentary world, whether that be a gaming, informative, or storytime TikTok. One thing to set your content apart from the masses is the use of captions. The addition of captions gives the viewer another aspect to focus on as the content plays, meaning your watch time is exponentially increased.
Ultimately, uploading random videos found in your Snapchat memories can result in a viral video on occasion, but to become a viral TikTok content creator the importance is found in spending time and resources to curate, create, and optimize content.
Trending Sounds
Now I know what you may be thinking, "oh this is easy, just choose the sound that everyone is using". However, that is not exactly the case. A sound that is "Trending" does not mean it has had "Viral" content created. To clarify, TikTok views "Trending Sounds" as audio used by a lot of people, but it doesn't exactly correlate to a mass amount of views on that content. So using these sounds which are shown as "Trending Sounds" in the TikTok app, may not always correlate to easy virality.
With good news, there are resources to use, specifically websites, that list the top viral sounds in a 30-day, 7-day, or even 24-hour period; therefore, allowing you to choose a sound that is truly going viral and not being promoted by TikTok because a popular artist, like Harry Styles, paid a large amount of money,
The links to these websites can be found here:
Choose a Niche
Prior to creating your first TikTok or even the TikTok account, it is important to choose a niche, an industry that interests you, and designate that page specifically to that content.
You may be questioning, "if I make good content, won't people still engage with it?". In short, yes. However, when diving deeper into it, we can understand that people follow an account because they enjoy that content.
To create an example, say I was a Minecraft content creator and all my followers came during my time creating Minecraft content. If one day I began talking about stocks on my TikTok, there are two possible scenarios to occur;
I begin to lose followers, as there is no longer Minecraft content.
I lose a large amount of engagement, meaning the account is "dying".
Ultimately. these two outcomes lead to one result, TikTok removes the account from being an established branch of the algorithm. This means your views, likes, comments, and shares will all begin to rapidly decrease and you will be stuck working from square one to get back into the algorithm.
Conclusion
TikTok, and social media as a whole, is a very competitive space. It will take a lot of time, research, and dedication to growing to where you may consider yourself a success. There will be a ton of problems, declining growth, etc. that will make you feel like quitting.
It is important to remember that every content creator had also gone through this rough patch, and they succeed, so you can as well. You can go viral on TikTok in 2022 and become a successful 'TikToker'.